A tribute to Griz and a look at Dirt Classic

Thursday

Jul 25, 2013 at 12:27 AM

Speed Week

Rocky Ragusa

Jim Schahrer, president of the Fairbury Fair Association, passed away at the age of 52 last Friday. Prior to last week’s features, all the drivers brought their cars out to the track and ran a “Polish Victory Lap” in tribute to Schahrer, who was known by his friends as “Griz.” Griz had the vision to return the Prairie Dirt Classic back to national prominence. He spent countless hours in meetings and working to make this weekend’s race a successful one. Griz was very passionate about the annual Fairbury Fair, as well as the speedway and the community. Our deepest sympathy goes out to the Schahrer family during this time of grief.——— Dubbed “America’s Dirt Track,” the Fairbury American Legion Speedway will have the eyes of the late model world upon it this Friday and Saturday night. The World of Outlaw Late Model Series will invade the ¼-mile oval for the 23rd annual Prairie Dirt Classic. The camping area on the fairgrounds has been sold out but a lot has been acquired south of the track on First Street for campers. There is still reserved seating available. Gates will open at 9 a.m. Friday. Hot laps start at 6 p.m. The UMP Modifieds will be featured in a 30-lap, $2,000 race. Former Prairie Dirt Classic, Dirt Shoot Out winners, and past track champions will have a 25-lap race to end the night. Gates open at 9 a.m. Saturday and hot laps begin at 5:45 p.m. Qualifying for modifieds is at 6:15 and racing will follow. Modified drivers will have heat races, semis and a 30-lap, $3,000 race. World of Outlaw competitors will have B mains and the 100-lap, Prairie Dirt Classic will be followed by a 30-lap, $2,000 Prairie Dirt Shoot Out for drivers not making the lineup for the Classic. SELCAS will be serving breakfast from 7a.m. to noon. Singing the national anthem will be Maggie Chandler (Friday) and country music artist Alexandra Lee (Saturday). Last week’s race winner Kevin Weaver spoke on the importance of winning the Prairie Dirt Classic one more time. “It would be nice. I am 50 years old and time is running short, so it would be nice to get another PDC under my belt,” Weaver said. “Hopefully, this will be the year. We will have some drivers that have never been here. I think the hometown boys will run well.” Of the 11 regulars that travel with the World of Outlaws, only Darrell Lanigan has raced at Fairbury before, which was back in the 1990s. Josh Richards leads defending Outlaw champion Lanigan by 38 points heading into this weekend. This will be the first 100-lap race at Fairbury since Sept. 7, 1963. The top division at the time, the Supermodifieds or Rails, ran a 150-lap race billed as the Illinois State Championship. Cars ran 75 laps and then took a short break before running 75 more laps. Taking the win was the racing barber Larry “Boom Boom” Cannon of Danville. Lincoln’s Dean Shirley was second. The crowd was estimated at 4,000 race fans. Two of the young lions of Fairbury — Torin Mettille and McKay Wenger — both look to make a strong showing, spoke of their strategy for the race. “We have to qualify well,” Mettille spoke. “My grandpa (Dick Turner) told me I have been trying too hard. In the feature, you will have to exercise patience the first half and then, it’s hammer down. You need to have new tires every time you hit the track.” Wenger, after what he called a successful mini Summer National tour, added, “We have to have a perfect qualifying lap. It’s going to be about track position. Try and get a good spot for the heat races and hold on from there. “The Outlaws drivers will have on new tires every time they hit the track. You will need to carry two or three different compounds. For the weekend, you are looking at buying at least 12 new tires at about $2,000.” Making their final appearance last Saturday night, Justin DeLong and his family decided to hand up the helmet and move forward to another chapter of their lives. The DeLong family of Ron Sr., Trudy, Ron Jr., Karen, Justin and his fiancé, Kayla, are some of the classiest people you will find at the track. Win or loss, no matter the circumstance the DeLongs always took their time to speak and make you feel at home. “We decided last year this would be it,” Ron DeLong Jr. said. “Justin and Kayla are getting married in October. I told Justin when he decided to get married and thinking about a family, that we would be done.” Justin DeLong, the 2010 modified track champion at Farmer City, added, “ I am ready to start a new chapter in my life. I have been racing since I was 11 years old. My weekends have always been racing. Either getting up early to work on the racecar or staying out late in the shop. I am kind of excited to just be a race fan. We are looking forward to doing some fishing or just hanging out with friends. “I what to thank all my sponsors that we have had for all the support. We couldn’t have done it without your help. Thanks to all the fans, win or lose you were always there for our support. To you, we can never thank you enough.” “We did this for the fans, some of the feedback we were getting about the two-day shows is that there is no feature event for the late models on Friday night,” Marketing Director Gunner Sullivan said. Some of the drivers slated to run in this race include Billy Moyer, Shannon Babb, Brian Birkhofer, Brian Shirley, Jimmy Mars and Weaver. Local drivers include Daren Friedman, Scott Bull, Joe Harlan and first PDC champ Snooky Dehm.

Kankakee County Speedway Torin Mettille of Cullom won his second UMP Late Model feature last Friday. Steven Brooks picked up his first win in the UMP Modified race over Mike McKinney and Andrew Funk. Point leader in the UMP Street Stock class Don Hilleary took his fifth win. There was racing Wednesday and will be racing on Friday.

Farmer City Raceway Scott Bull of Fairbury won the $1,500-to-win Kimler Memorial race for the UMP Late Model drivers. Jay Ledford (modified), Jimmy Dehm (sportsman) and Jerrad Krick (street stock) also took feature wins. There will be no Friday night racing this week. A full show is scheduled for Aug. 2.

Lincoln Speedway Nick Lyons won the Pro Late Model race. Brian Lynn padded his point lead in the modified race as he won over Eric Bruce. T.D. Burger of Saunemin finished sixth. Brian Deavers took the Hornet feature. Lincoln Speedway will be off for two weeks due to the Logan County Fair. Racing will return on Aug. 9.

Macon Speedway Steve Sheppard Jr. added another win in the Big 10 Late Model series over Brian Diveley and Kyle Logue. Jeremy Nichols took the UMP Modified race over Guy Taylor. Burger finished seventh. This Saturday night, the 410 Winged Sprint cars have been added along to the show. Tony Stewart is scheduled to compete in a sprint car. Racing starts at 7.

Peoria Speedway Todd Bennett (late model) and Eric Bruce (modified) were among the feature winners. A full show will take place this Thursday night. Gates open at 5 and hot laps start at 6. There will no racing on Saturday.

LaSalle Speedway Jason Jaggers and Scott Schmitt took the UMP Late Model feature, while Donovan Lodge taking the UMP Modified win. LaSalle Speedway will be racing this Friday with a full show, plus a $600 to win, Pro Late Model race. Racing will start at 7.